So if what I heard Debra say, it is true that what we store up tends to get lost and the stuff we give away stays. Interesting concept. As you look at this post see if you can find ways to relate even more that giving keeps and keeping loses. WaynO

Giving is Eternal
Again and again. Jesus links the way we use our money with our ability to build a meaningful life; but in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus goes far beyond that teaching. He asserts that the way we use our money not only enriches and adds meaning to our present lives—it has eternal dimensions in our relationship with God. In Tennessee Williams' play. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. "Big Daddy" says. "Yes. sir. boy—the human animal is a beast that dies and if he's got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be everlasting!—which it never can be." That line sounds accurate, but according to Jesus, it is not. Jesus said the opposite. While he recognized the shallowness of self-seeking financial pursuits, he said that you can make everlasting purchases with your money: "Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out. an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." (Luke 12:33).
A news item described a funeral procession that was crossing a busy city intersection just as an armored truck pulled up from the side street. Not realizing that the procession of cars was a funeral, the driver of the armored truck joined it. An onlooker, impressed by the spectacle of the armored truck in the center of a funeral cortege, said to a friend. "What do you know: you can take it with you!
In one respect, he was right. The people who always say. "You can't take it with you" are dead wrong. Jesus told us that you can take it with you: "...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:20). How do you do that? You can take it with you if you trade it in. If you bus something worthwhile with it. you can take it with you. J.C. Penney died a few years ago. This man not only tithed his money; he gave far more than 10 percent of it to God. Did he take his money with him? Of course he did. He used his money to enrich and enlarge his life. He bought something with it that mattered. He laid up treasure in heaven, and when he got there, it was waiting for him. He took it with him in the deep pockets of his soul.
Because the main character in Jesus's story of the rich man and the beggar is a wealthy person, people with average incomes sometimes fail to see that this great truth applies to them too. The question Jesus pictures so dramatically in this story is one that each of us asks every day of our lives, regardless of our income level: Will I make money my highest goal in life, or will I making helping other people my highest goal? As we answer that question, each of us tends to both believe and resist believing what Jesus indicated was the only rational choice. On one hand, we see that Jesus was right, and we want to go his way with our money. On the other hand, we are constantly tempted to think and behave as if Jesus missed the turn on this issue.
Sometimes we are able to see the opportunity for an eternal investment. During a severe recession, when many of the church members were unemployed and broke, a pastor put $100 in small bills in a wicker basket. Telling the congregation that the money came from the church's benevolent fund, she asked the ushers to pass the basket along the pews. "Take what you need to help you through the week." she said. "We want to be a good neighbor to you, and this is the only way we know how to do it." Several did take money from the basket, but when the basket came back to the church's altar it contained $65 more than when it started. Deep within each of us runs the urge to help others with our money.
At other times our vision of eternal values is sadly blurred. A pastor in Arkansas announced that he was going to preach a sermon on stewardship next week. The following Sunday the sanctuary was "comfortably filled"—meaning that each worshiper would have had room to lie down in the pew and take a nap! Upon ascending the pulpit stairs, the preacher announced that he had changed his mind. He preached on the importance of prayer.
Six months later, when Easter Sunday came, the sanctuary was filled to capacity. He rose to speak and said. "Brothers and sisters. I have changed my mind with regard to the sermon topic." He then delivered a strong message on tithing. "The risen Christ who gave himself for us calls us to act like good Samaritans toward people who are hurting—by giving our money through the benevolent arms of the church," he said. The Easter crowd was less than enthusiastic about his choice of sermon topic.
Yes, we believe in giving to help the less fortunate, but that conviction is not as deep and consistent as it was in Jesus's mind. We believe, but we find ourselves pulled in the opposite direction too.